Chapter 15

Victoria

 

 

 

I was shaking, the initial reaction of realizing that Scarlett was missing having faded with the arrival of Ciro. The look on his face told me this was real, that my sister had been taken. But what scared me more than anything was the fear I had seen in Ciro’s eyes.

I had known the big beast of a man all my life. Not once had I ever seen that look in his eyes. He feared what was happening to Scarlett, of what could happen to her, making me realize my sister was in more danger than I could have ever imagined.

Seeing how scared he was terrified me, and when he had made me call Adrian, I hadn’t hesitated. If getting my sister back safe and sound meant I had to bow at the devil’s feet and beg, I would have done it, so calling Adrian was nothing.

Part of me had wanted to call him, anyway, to have him come get me, hold me and keep me safe. Hearing his voice, the way he had called me “kotyonok,” had nearly brought me to my knees. He was going to help find Scarlett, and for that, I was grateful.

A waitress, one of the few people still in the club now, pressed a glass of water into my hands before hurrying away. I took a small sip, but it didn’t relieve any of the worry and fear that were churning in my stomach.

A commotion behind me had me lifting my head. I had to blink my eyes a few times before I could make sense of what I was seeing.

Anya Volkov was pushing her way into the crowd despite the security guards, bouncers, and Ciro’s own men blocking her way inside. The way she sidestepped men trained to kill people first and ask questions later with not even a blink of her beautiful blue eyes held me spellbound for a moment.

Then she was suddenly in front of me, taking the glass of water from my nerveless fingers and urging me to my feet. “Come,” she murmured softly, tucking me close against her in a way that made me feel oddly safe, even though I was considerably taller than her. “Let’s get you away from this madness.”

“But …” I started, then quickly shut my mouth.

I did want away from all this. There was nothing I could do but get in the way of Ciro finding Scarlett as quickly as possible, and I didn’t want to be the reason he spent even a second longer away from her than necessary.

I glanced around for him and found his eyes coldly watching me with Anya. I knew I was nothing but a nuisance to him on a good day, that if it weren’t for Scarlett, he probably wouldn’t even give me five minutes of his time. I also knew he loved her.

I lowered my gaze back to Anya. “Thank you,” I whispered through bloodless lips.

She gave me a grim smile, guiding me outside and into the passenger seat of her car. It had stopped raining for the moment, yet the clouds above suggested it wasn’t the end of the storm.

On the drive, my mind returned to what had happened in the club while I had been dancing with my twin. Had someone been watching us the entire time? Had they waited until we had been on our own so they could snatch one of us?

What if it had been me they had taken?

Fuck, I wished it had been me. I would have gladly taken my sister’s place.

When Anya suddenly pulled to a stop and turned off the car, I finally focused on my surroundings. We weren’t at the compound but some underground garage that was full of cars. As I looked around, I saw a car parked off to the side with no other cars near it that I remembered all too well.

“No,” I breathed, turning pleading eyes on Anya. “I can’t be here. Please, Anya, don’t make me go up to his apartment. I … I can’t do this. Not now.”

“Don’t worry,” she said in a voice that was oddly calming. “I won’t make you go up to his place. You can come to my apartment. I have my own floor.” She opened her door and got out.

With shaky fingers, I followed her. My legs felt boneless, but I somehow found the strength to walk over to the bank of elevators and stepped on with her when one arrived quickly.

Anya punched in a code that I assumed unlocked her floor as the doors shut. Then the elevator quickly ascended, and I leaned back against the wall, nearly too weak to stand on my own. Fuck, I knew I needed to check my blood sugar. The events of the last two hours were taking its toll on my body. I needed insulin and soon.

The elevator stopped, but I knew if I took so much as another step, I was going to face-plant then and there.

Anya started to step off, but at the last second, she glanced over at me. She must have read the distress on my face because she moved quickly and caught me just as I started to slide down the wall of the elevator.

“Easy,” she murmured in that same calm voice. “You’re okay. I got you, myshka.”

“My purse,” I whispered. “Insulin.”

Her eyes flickered in the first sign of surprise I had ever seen from her, but she acted quickly. She opened my purse, shifted everything around until she found my vial of insulin and a syringe. She loaded the syringe efficiently, and then handed it over to me.

I pushed the needle into my lower abdomen then leaned my head back against the elevator wall, waiting for the insulin to do its job. For several, long minutes I just sat there, with Anya right beside me, watching me with concern on her beautiful face.

“How long have you been a diabetic?” she finally asked.

“Since I was three,” I told her honestly, and sympathy filled her blue eyes. “It’s something I’ve learned to live with.”

“I can only imagine how hard it must be.” She lifted a hand and pushed my hair back from my face. “You’re looking a little better. Want to try to move somewhere more comfortable?”

I shrugged. “Sure, I guess.”

She stood then carefully helped me to my feet. Anya was surprisingly stronger than I would have ever guessed someone of her size would ever be. She helped me into her apartment and down onto one end of her plush couch in the living room. Once I was settled, she stepped back.

“How about some coffee? Tea?”

“Either. I don’t care.” I tucked my feet up under me and settled more comfortably into the corner of the couch before resting my head on the back of it.

As she left the living room, I took a moment to look around. Three steps went down into what I assumed was the dining room. The layout wasn’t as open as Adrian’s, so I had no idea what was down in the next room. The living room was large, and the décor was a mixture of luxury and comfort. The carpets were a soft beige that went well with the color of her furniture. The walls were also in soft colors, but it was her choice of pictures that graced the walls that really caught my attention.

The paintings could have easily been priceless pieces or expert knock-offs. Either way, they showed me a side of Anya I wouldn’t have expected. That she was deep and passionate under all that stoic coldness.

In the distance, I could hear her moving around in what had to have been the kitchen, making coffee I realized when the delicious scent filled the apartment.

The place was huge, but I felt oddly at home, even with all the turmoil flooding through me right then. I felt safe. So safe I found myself closing my eyes and drifting off as everything finally seemed to catch up with me.

I hadn’t slept much the last few nights, and after what had happened at the club, my eyes suddenly felt like they had hundred pound weights attached to them.

The ringing of a doorbell had my head snapping up, my eyes blinking open. It took a moment for me to realize where I was.

Anya sat on the other end of the couch from me, sipping from a mug of what smelled like coffee. She was looking over her shoulder, in the opposite direction from the elevator where the doorbell rang again.

Cursing, she put her mug on the coffee table in front of us and headed for the door. As she got closer, I realized it must have been the stairs, and my heart started racing at the thought of who it could be.

Please don’t be Adrian.

Please … Please be Adrian.

My mind and heart were shouting out conflicting pleas as I pulled my legs up to my chest, resting my cheek on my bent knees as I watched Anya stiffen before finally pulling the heavy door open.

“Klara, what do you want?” Anya’s voice was frosty, her body language speaking of her dislike for the woman before her.

My head snapped up at that name. Klara … Klara?

No. It couldn’t be. Hadn’t I suffered enough already that night without having to face Adrian’s wife? There had to be another Klara.

Mio Dio, please let there be more than one Klara.

“Adrian said you would have Theo’s new train set.” The newcomer’s voice was slightly more accented than either Anya’s or Adrian’s, but that only made her voice that much sexier. “He’s been wailing for hours, refusing to go to bed, so here we are.”

Anya glanced over her shoulder at me, and I saw resignation tighten her features, along with what almost looked like an apology. Stepping back, she waved the woman in.

My breath suddenly felt trapped in my lungs, making it impossible for oxygen to reach my brain. For fuck’s sake, this was Adrian’s wife? This beautiful woman with the curvy body that was made for sin and to grace the runways of every fashion designer from Milan to New York?

Her hair was long, vibrant, and styled in a way that made me wonder if she woke up with hair that beautiful or if she spent hours in the salon to accomplish it. Her makeup was perfectly in place, making her lips look plump and juicy and her eyes dark and mysterious. There was a diamond necklace around her graceful neck that glittered in the overhead lights, and I knew it must have cost Adrian a fortune. The rock on her hand was big enough to melt the damn polar caps if aimed at the sun just right.

Then she stepped fully into the apartment and I saw the little person who was walking in behind her.

The air left me so forcefully I nearly choked on it, but my eyes remained glued to the little boy who smiled so adoringly up at Anya.

He was a miniature copy of Adrian in every way. The same dark hair, skin tone, and fuck, those same dark eyes. Even the way he was smiling right then screamed at me that this was Adrian’s son.

Bile rose in the back of my throat at the realization that this little boy was yet another secret Adrian had kept from me. He had a beautiful son who was the very image of himself, and he hadn’t even said one word about him.

This was a nightmare. My worst nightmare in every way. Coming face to face with the wife of the man I loved and the son I had known nothing about. To see what a beautiful family he had. To see what his life was like without me.

The pain I had been trying to keep at bay from the moment my twin had told me Adrian was married came crashing down again, but this time it was worse. Before, his wife had just been a thought, not an actual person to me. Now, I was seeing the flesh and blood woman who had everything I could have ever possibly wanted in life.

The man … and his child.

“Hi, Tetka Anya. Papochka said you have my train.”

“I think I saw it, Theo.” Anya’s voice was the softest I had yet to hear it, and the affection she had for her nephew was evident in the smile she gave him.

“I remember where it is now!” Theo assured her excitedly, skipping across the distance from where his mother was standing with Anya toward me.

It was only as he was moving around the couch that he spotted me and his face split into a warm smile. “Hi, I’m Theo.”

“H-h-hello, Theo.” I tried to smile back, but I wasn’t sure if I accomplished it. “I’m Victoria.”

“Are you a friend of Tetka’s?” He moved around the coffee table, bent, and picked up a metal train.

“Yes,” I murmured, unable to make my voice any louder than it already was.

Theo came around the other side of the table, moving toward me. In a daze, I watched him, my heart shredding all over again at how lucky Adrian was to have a child, let alone one as sweet and beautiful as Theo.

“Are you having a sleepover? Can I come, too?” Excitement danced in his dark eyes. “I’ve never been to a sleepover before.”

“Theo, I think Elissa would be lost if she doesn’t get to tuck you in tonight,” Anya called out, having heard every word her nephew had just said, but she didn’t move from the stairwell door or Klara. “Tell Victoria goodnight. Perhaps you can visit with her again another time.”

Disappointment twisted his lips, but he quickly gave me another smile that twisted the pain in my heart that much deeper. “Goodnight, Victoria. I hope we can play sometime.”

“Goodnight, sweetheart,” I whispered then watched as he skipped back to his mother who I only then realized was watching me like a hawk.

I quickly dropped my eyes to my lap, ashamed of myself for having fallen in love with this woman’s husband.

For still loving him.

It wasn’t something I could turn off. I had learned that over the last three days. Love didn’t have an off switch once it was turned on.

I heard Anya say goodnight to Theo, and then she lowered her voice so I couldn’t hear what she said to Klara. A moment later, the heavy stairwell door shut loudly, and then I heard the distinct click of the lock being set before Anya returned to the couch.

The day I had found out about Adrian’s wife and confronted him about it was the day I had realized there really was a pain strong enough to shatter everything inside a person. Still, I had tried to build a wall to protect myself, had tried to turn my heart to ice and stone so I never had to feel that way again.

I hadn’t succeeded.

Right then, after having seen Theo Volkov and how much he looked like the man I loved, all that pain came crashing down on me times a million.

All my life, all I had ever wanted was to be a mother. It was something I had dreamed about nightly, but that was all it would ever be for me—a dream.

If I ever got pregnant, it would be dangerous for both me and the baby. My doctors had warned me from the moment I’d had my first period that babies just weren’t a possibility for me. My kidneys were already feeling the strain of my diabetes, and I knew I was going to eventually need a transplant. Sooner rather than later, actually from what my last physically had shown. Scarlett was already set to give me one of hers if the need ever occurred, and as much as I didn’t want to put my sister through the pain of surgery to give me something so precious, I was eternally grateful she would even want to.

Despite still being a virgin, I had gone on the pill when I was seventeen. I wasn’t going to ever risk the life of a defenseless little baby. I might want a baby with all my heart, but I wasn’t that selfish, dammit. Besides, there was adoption, and I had been researching the different options.

A cup of steaming coffee was pushed into my hands, and I slowly lifted my head to find Anya standing over me.

“I’m sorry,” she said after a few moments of standing there, watching me. “I wasn’t expecting Theo to come down, and I sure as hell wasn’t expecting Klara. His nanny, maybe; but not Klara.”

Unsure of how to answer that, I took a sip of coffee instead and didn’t speak. I wasn’t even sure if my voice would actually work if I had even attempted to do so.

Anya returned to her seat at the other end of the couch and picked up her mug of coffee again. “Sometimes, not everything is as it seems, myshka.”

I wasn’t in the mood for riddles so I just sat there, staring down into the blackness of my coffee, and tried my hardest not to cry.